. President Jefferson negotiated in
vain for a territory in Africa, and the Brazils. The legislature of
Virginia again renewed its pledge, and as much of the bigotry of former
times had now been obliterated by the diffusion of enlightened
principles, the renewal of the proposition was followed by the best
results. General Mercer, familiarly designated as the Wilberforce of
America, opened a correspondence with the principal advocates of
emancipation, which ultimately produced the formation of the American
Colonization Society, on the first of January, 1817. The labours of the
Society were greatly facilitated by the laws of the Union, which left
to each State the uncontrolled power of legislating for itself on the
subject of slavery. The members of the Society had therefore merely to
address themselves to the humanity and understanding of the
slaveowners, in order finally to attain their purpose. The progress of
moral truth, however slow, is always certain, and the issue of those
proceedings has been such as the excellence of their object might have
led us to anticipate. Several of the States have already signified
their willingness to forego all the pernicious advantages of slavery.
And the number of slaves offered gratuitously by owners in different
parts of America, vastly exceed the present means of the Society to
provide for them in Africa. The legislature of Maryland appreciate so
highly the utility and importance of the settlement of Liberia, that
they have voted in the first instance a considerable sum, to be
appropriated annually to its support, and have subsequently, within the
last six months, voted two hundred thousand dollars for the purpose of
assisting in the formation of another settlement on the same
principles.

It is, therefore, sufficiently evident, that what is now required to
complete the united objects of manumission and colonization, is, not so
much the consent of the slave-owners, as the power of carrying the
design into operation. Mr. Elliot Cresson, of Philadelphia, an active
and enthusiastic supporter of the cause, visited England in 1832, for
the purpose of drawing attention to the subject, and of appealing to the
well-known generosity of a country that has uniformly taken the lead in
advancing the interests of civilization. A Society was formed, under the
patronage of H.R.H. the Duke of Sussex, with the view of extending
colonization in Africa, on the same system which has proved so
success